Physiological changes during torpor favor association with Endozoicomonas endosymbionts in the urochordate Botrylloides leachii.

ABSTRACT: Environmental perturbations evoke down-regulation of metabolism in some multicellular organisms, leading to dormancy, or torpor. Colonies of the urochordate Botrylloides leachii enter torpor in response to changes in seawater temperature and may survive for months as small vasculature remnants that lack feeding and reproductive organs but possess torpor-specific microbiota. Upon returning to milder conditions, the colonies rapidly restore their original morphology, cytology and functionality while harboring re-occurring microbiota, a phenomenon that has not been described in detail to date. Here we investigated the stability of B. leachii microbiome and its functionality in active and dormant colonies, using microscopy, qPCR, in situ hybridization, genomics and transcr

SUBMITTER: Hyams Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10264598 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature